Nuclear

A category all its own, despite being a form of energy. The until-now primarily dormant energy form of nuclear power is getting a new lease on construction life in the wake of the astronomical energy needs of the tarsands. The tarsands need a vast and growing energy supply, almost requiring half of what it will produce at the point of consumption. As a means of both feeding that "need" and using the thin-wedge of "thirsting for energy" that is "not greenhouse gas emitting" for the tarsands, this highly dangerous and discredited form of energy is making a slow and speeding up comeback. Again, as a result of peak oil, the resurgence of nuclear energy comes cloaked (in Orwellian fashion) in greenwash rhetoric-- ignoring the level to which greenhouse gasses are A) emitted in construction of power plants that will take several years to finish, and B) need to operate for a decade after that before any noticable depreciation in total greenhouse gasses and carbon emissions are registered. Even though it is portrayed as a boon for the earth, radioactive material is anything but and is yet more of the vast and growing assault on the earth of the tarsands. In complimentary fashion, the tarsands would provide legitimacy for a nuclear industry in a post-oil existence, where Three Mile Island and Chernobyl once took it away.

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A category all its own, despite being a form of energy. The until-now primarily dormant energy form of nuclear power is getting a new lease on construction life in the wake of the astronomical energy needs of the tarsands. The tarsands need a vast and growing energy supply, almost requiring half of what it will produce at the point of consumption. As a means of both feeding that "need" and using the thin-wedge of "thirsting for energy" that is "not greenhouse gas emitting" for the tarsands, this highly dangerous and discredited form of energy is making a slow and speeding up comeback. Again, as a result of peak oil, the resurgence of nuclear energy comes cloaked (in Orwellian fashion) in greenwash rhetoric-- ignoring the level to which greenhouse gasses are A) emitted in construction of power plants that will take several years to finish, and B) need to operate for a decade after that before any noticable depreciation in total greenhouse gasses and carbon emissions are registered. Even though it is portrayed as a boon for the earth, radioactive material is anything but and is yet more of the vast and growing assault on the earth of the tarsands. In complimentary fashion, the tarsands would provide legitimacy for a nuclear industry in a post-oil existence, where Three Mile Island and Chernobyl once took it away.

Al Gore has returned to the political spotlight in exalted fashion with a Nobel Peace Prize in hand, propping himself up for a potential presidential bid in 2008. Front and center in Gore's new rhetorical entourage is the state of nature, and in particular, global warming. And while Gore may be delivering an important message about the fate of our fragile ecosystems, one must be weary of the messenger's past. For Gore's own environmental record leaves much to be desired.

CINDY WALL: Inuit across Canada's Arctic are worried about global warming but the effort to help solve the problem is giving them something else to worry about. Efforts to find alternative cleaner energy sources have driven up the price of uranium, the fuel used in nuclear reactors. Developers want to build new uranium mines on Inuit land in Labrador. As Reporter Paul Pigott reports, some people in Labrador wonder if they won't be trading off one problem for another.

Alan Maass: The latest trend for corporations is to show off green
credentials--BP has a series of commercials with a guy standing in a
field talking about alternative fuels, and Rupert Murdoch is vowing to
make his international operations carbon neutral. What kind of impact do
corporate green solutions have on curbing global warming?

Jeffrey St. Clair: NONE. That's the short answer. Must we really elaborate?

This is sadly one of those articles that cannot be published uncommented. The mad rush towards the north for Uranium, oil & gas, coal, Coalbed Methane, diamonds and more-- has already been basically handed to the federal government by those who have advanced much of the protected areas strategy.

CALGARY (CP) — A businessman who wants to build Western Canada's first nuclear power plant says nuclear energy would help protect Alberta from a carbon tax.

Wayne Henuset, president of Energy Alberta, told a Calgary business audience that with Ontario and Quebec relying heavily on nuclear and hydro electricity, there will be a move to apply the tax and come after Alberta's oil and gas resources.

``The supply and demand is pretty OK,'' he said at a briefing with reporters in Calgary today. ``What we do have is a lot of psychology in the price. We have to expect volatility in the oil price due to this psychological component.''

It’s Wednesday afternoon. Inside the Peace Valley Inn’s Emerald Room representatives from Energy Alberta are handing out pamphlets and talking to citizens about their concerns regarding the proposed nuclear power plant. A Power Point presentation loops on a white screen, tables are arrayed with information and refreshments as the representatives make the rounds, talking to everyone who comes in.